Hess Begins Production At Stampede In GoM

Production has kicked off at the Hess Corp.-operated Stampede development in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico (GoM), the company said Feb. 5.

Discovered in 2005, the field spans several blocks in the GoM’s Green Canyon area.

“We completed subsea work, received regulatory approval for production operations, and continued drilling at the fourth production well and first water injection well,” the company said.

Partners in the Stampede development are Chevron subsidiary Union Oil Co. of California, Statoil and CNOOC Ltd. Subsidiary Nexen Petroleum Offshore U.S.A., each holding a 25% working interest.

Speaking during the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call, COO Greg Hill said the company plans to gradually ramp up production over the next 18 months. He was cautious not to give a peak production profile and time as the company wants to get dynamic data on wells at the field.

The facility is designed for a gross topside processing capacity of about 80,000 bbl/d of oil, 40 million standard cubic feet of natural gas per day, and 100,000 bbl/d of water injection capacity, CNOOC said Feb. 6.

Production facilities for the deepwater oil and gas field, which has a reservoir depth of about 9,144 m (30,000 ft) with a water depth of about 1,067 m (3,500 ft), consists of subsea production and injection wells tied back to a tension-leg platform. The current development plans calls for six producers and four water injectors.

The project, he said, was delivered “just over three years from sanction safely, ahead of schedule and under budget.”

Ocean Installer Secures Two SURF Contracts From Statoil

Ocean Installer said Feb. 6 Statoil awarded it two subsea umbilicals, risers and flowlines contracts comprising work from 2018 through 2020 on the Snorre, Troll, Njord, Åsgard, Bauge, Fenja and Dvalin fields.

The first contract is for subsea lines modification (SLM) work with offshore activities containing complex riser change-out operations set to commence in second-quarter of 2018.

The second contract Ocean Installer secured is for SLM under Statoil’s Marine Wave scheme. This is the third Marine Wave, and Ocean Installer participated in the previous two as well. Offshore operations are scheduled for the 2019 and 2020 seasons, and include firm work on Njord Future, Bauge, Fenja and Dvalin projects, with significant options to broaden the scope of the contract.

Project management on both projects will be handled by Ocean Installer’s Stavanger office.

Statoil Aims For First Oil From Carcara Field In 2023-2024

Statoil aims to start production from Brazil’s Carcara oil discovery in 2023 or 2024, a company official said Feb. 7.

The discovery, where Statoil plans to drill one to three appraisal wells this year, could hold more than 2 Bboe, said Jez Averty, Statoil’s exploration head for Britain and Norway.

“We believe that this could be a very high-value asset. This has potential to be our [Johan] Sverdrup outside of Norway,” he told Reuters, referring to the large North Sea field Statoil is currently developing.

Partners in the Carcara license include ExxonMobil and Portugal’s Galp.

Energean, Stena Drilling Ink Development Contract For Karish Field

Energean Oil & Gas has signed a contract with Stena Drilling Ltd. for the development drilling at the Karish Field offshore Israel.

As part of the contract, Stena Drilling will deploy the Stena Forth ultradeepwater drillship, or a substitute agreed to by both parties, to drill three development wells in first-quarter 2019. The contract also has a provision for further option. The contract is subject to Energean’s final investment decision regarding the Karish and Tanin gas fields.

The Stena Forth will be mobilized from Las Palmas, Spain, where she is currently located. The Karish development program includes three development wells and production from a new FPSO vessel, about 90 km (55 miles) offshore. First gas is expected in 2021.

Husky Plans To Restart SeaRose Operations After Iceberg Probe

Canadian regulators on Jan. 26 lifted a suspension notice on Husky Energy’s SeaRose floating production vessel off the coast of eastern Canada, allowing the company to resume operations on the 27,000-bbl/d project.

The Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board (C-NLOPB) earlier this month ordered the company to suspend operations after an investigation found that it had not followed its own procedure when iceberg came too close to the facility in March 2017.

Husky did not disconnect the SeaRose FPSO vessel and sail away from the iceberg as it should have done, and at one point people onboard were ordered to “brace for impact.” While the iceberg did not make contact with the SeaRose or underwater infrastructure, the response was against the company's own Ice Management Plan protocol, the regulator determined.

Husky completed a series of actions with the regulator to ensure a similar incident would not happen again.

The resumption of operations on the SeaRose was expected to take three days, the company said. The vessel is located in the North Atlantic’s White Rose oil field, about 350 km (217 miles) east off the coast of the province of Newfoundland and Labrador.

—Staff & Reuters Reports